HYDRO - Building Self-sufficiency in Indonesia

To improve health outcomes and self-sufficiency through promoting sustainable water collection and sanitation systems for rural villages in Java and Nusa Tenggara.

Indonesia has extremely polluted water sources, resulting in 70% of household water supplies being contaminated by faecal waste. In fact, only 12% of the population having access to safe drinking water. Additionally, 57.15% of rural villages don’t have access to clean drinking water. 

This results in numerous consequences, such as diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, etc. Hence, childhood diarrhoea incidence is sitting at 75.9%, and is a top 5 leading cause of early mortality in Indonesia.

We have identified 31m people in Java and Nusa Tenggara (~14331 villages) don’t have access to clean water and can benefit from clean water systems. Through a systematic analysis and categorisation of these villages' natural attributes, we aim to provide a master database of the technologies that each of these villages would be best suited for, as well as distribute knowledge and materials for each relevant water system to all parties. 

Java and Nusa Tenggara have been chosen as the initial phase within Indonesia due to their feasibility, owing to their accessibility to existing supply chains, high population density, natural topography, historical data availability, and cost. Over time, we expect an expansion of our solution base to cover more of Eastern Indonesia.

We will assist the development of suitable water carrying systems and water purification technologies for underserved villages in Indonesia. Topographic maps, historical weather patterns, and other data inputs will be used to identify villages that will benefit from low-maintenance water sourcing systems. These include rainwater collection, gravity-fed pipes from upstream water sources, cyclic water pumps. Eligible villages will be then automatically assessed for the feasibility of various water purification technologies, including through organic flocculation, solar disinfection, and chemical treatments. 

Through this, a database of villages that would benefit from sanitation systems can be automatically created and ranked by feasibility and impact. This will be disseminated to our own project volunteers, local NGOs, and relevant provincial authorities to guide funding and development projects.

We will also distribute technical, educational, and promotional manuals about these water collection and sanitation systems that are feasible, low-cost, and self-sufficient by the villagers. They include the technologies mentioned above, which utilise modern equipment as well as traditional plant-based water purification techniques.

Focus: Rural villagers in Java and Nusa Tenggara Islands, with an additional focus on girls and women (12-40 years old) and adolescents (all genders). 

This was chosen through the following criteria list using the NCCDH framework:

- Median Income of different geographical locations

- Accessibility to basic human rights/needs 

- Unable to protect themselves from abuse/neglect (MSF)  

- Below the poverty line based on consumption or income (World Bank)

Additionally, the role of water collection has traditionally fallen upon these groups, and is a burdensome responsibility that can compromise their attainment of education and physical health. 

Location: Java and Nusa Tenggara 

Location Focus Criteria:

- Close to supply chains of goods required to sustain initiatives

- Areas of greater accessibility to NGOs and other partners

- 3-year strategy feasibility to form a basis for scalability

- High population areas for greater impact and accurate trials

Overall, our program aims to improve the efficiency of matching water sanitation projects with relevant Indonesian villages, while also promoting technical knowledge to ensure long-term sustainability. This will upskill villagers while improving health outcomes through clean water access, as well as minimising the disproportionate burden placed on Indonesian women and children.

Our team is comprised of medical students, engineers and law students who are passionate about advocating for the better of underprivileged communities. 

In addition to volunteering for several charities like the Salvation Army, Red Cross and St Vincent de Paul, we also extended ourselves to Non-for-profit consultancy at 180 Degrees Consulting and consulting firms, helping projects across the World and Australia. These projects aim to improve the lives of the underprivileged, including working with children who have terminal illnesses and disabilities, as well as women who do not have access to safe menstrual practices. 

One of our team members also has a personal connection to this topic, with his father's extended family growing up in areas with extreme water pollution and now facing chronic medical consequences (hepatic cirrhosis) from long-term intake of these water sources.

These experiences have uniquely developed our understanding and passion of this pressing issue, and through our shared but varied skillsets, we are well-positioned to make further meaningful impacts on the quality of life for Indonesian populations.

We have performed research and a financial feasibility analysis for a non-for-profit medium-sized NGO operating in Indonesia that is preparing for funding shortfalls during a recessive period. Through this, we have engaged with some domestic partners regarding technology transfers, funding, and conducted an in-depth case study analysis that proves feasibility. While specific Indonesian villages have not been engaged yet, we expect no major hurdles due to the ease of access historically afforded for previous water access programs. 

Our solution is an innovative program that streamlines charity and government efforts in Indonesia, integrating various considerations and available technologies into a single master source. We will also provide all the relevant knowledge on the water systems employed. Through this, we are removing the inefficiencies present within the disparate landscape of charitable entities operating in Indonesia, and serve as a single destination for all sanitation concerns regarding rural Indonesia.

We expect this to rapidly change the market, as various entities begin employing our database to shift their focus to the villages most compatible with their existing technologies and those most in-need. To ensure no overlap between charitable services offered for villages, we will also explore the creation of a forum or online logging system to allocate and reserve individual villages with specific organisations.

Our primary impact goal is to set up our database and incorporate over 30% of Java and Nusa Tenggara villages into the list within the next year. We expect coverage to be slow at the start then rapidly accelerate, with a >90% coverage within three years. This is since the villages can be rapidly sorted and assessed once the technological infrastructure is set up. 

In the immediate short-term, our goal is to sign on at least three local partners to assist with the development and distribution of water systems and technical expertise to villagers. These would include domestic and international NGOs, local and federal authorities, corporations, and influential individual stakeholders. 

In the long-term, we aim to substantially accelerate the installation rate of water systems in rural Indonesian villages. This will be measured through documenting the number of new villages receiving clean water after the solution is implemented, and comparing it to historical trends. This will likely not have a definitively foreseeable conclusion date due to the magnitude of the issue in Indonesia. Additionally, the target market can always be expanded to cover further regions of Indonesia or other nations if all eligible villages are saturated in Java and Nusa Tenggara.

The technology employed involves large-scale software and data analytics, with machine-learning to optimise the impact and feasibility rankings of villages. This will take in automatic inputs, including weather, terrain, accessibility, population, population, as well as manually inputted qualitative and quantitative metrics.

On the ground, traditional technology know-how will be distributed to domestic volunteers, other partner organisations, and the villagers themselves. Gravity-based piping and rainwater collection systems are low-tech but reliable, and will likely employ modern materials for greater durability. Hydraulic water pumps rely on the water hammer effect, and have been in use for a millennia as a sustainable no-energy water transporting mechanism.

Depending on the village's natural features and surrounding flora, organic flocculation from native plants or solar disinfection protocols can be used. Chlorinated chemical treatments can also employed, but will likely only be suitable for villages with better accessibility.

Ultimately, we aim for our technology recommendations to be sustainable and low-cost to ensure long-term success. Hence, there is a varied implementation of high-tech software solutions in conjunction with education and implementation of low-tech hardware. 

We have not yet launched our solution. We expect our database to expand to 10m rural Indonesians from 4300 villages by next year. 

However, in the first year, the direct meaningful impact may not be as substantial, as much of the year will be spent developing the product, and it will also require marketing and promotion for widescale adoption. 

We expect approximately 230 villages to directly benefit from water sanitation systems, either from systems installed by our on-the-ground volunteer network, or other parties with shared technologies. This will ramp up by a ten-fold in later years as the software matures and villages are mass-evaluated.

While our team members will commit time to finish documents regarding the sanitation technologies and master database, other university and pressing work matters may take precedence over this project at time. To address this, we will arrange regular check-up meetings if selected for the MIT program.

This program is not funded at all, which is okay for the initial pre-delivery planning phase. However, funding may be required for the promotional and communications aspects once our systems are active.

The cultural and physical distance between Sydney, Boston, and Indonesia also will hamper the ease of communication between team members, MIT, local NGOs, and local Indonesians. Luckily, this program is covering a non-controversial topic, so there will likely be little domestic resistance to our efforts.

None at the moment, although we have some of numerous Indonesian charities interested in participating in our efforts. 

Through our solution, we will provide a tangible benefit to quality of life for millions of Indonesian rural villagers through partnerships with other organisations to ensure clean water access. This is through the form of optimised data collection and analysis, as well distributing technical and social expertise in promoting water purification systems. 

We would operate as a charity that runs off donations, free volunteer labour, and sponsorship. We expect income per physical village installations to average $6000, which would be enough to cover the cost of the installation for that village plus a 20% buffer. However, the majority of village systems will not be installed by our own team of on-site volunteers, but rather by partner firms and authorities, which removes such expenses from the program.

For the database, we will eventually consider a subscription model once adoption is more widespread. Select categories will be free to individuals forever, but companies will require a recurring charity contribution or technological transfer. This is also a positive marketing opportunity for the other party, and is expected to bring in $300,000 after a few years of establishing HYDRO as the primary information source.

In the initial development of software stage, we will be fully volunteer-run. However, as the scope of the project begins to expand, we expect ongoing overhead costs to rise as more staff are brought in. This will require income sources to keep sustaining the program. In addition to the recurring subscription revenue and potential government/charity grants, we have a three-pronged approach for donations targeting wealthy individuals, the general public, and major corporations. 

The top 1% give over 40% of all donations, and so must be addressed during donation drives. For wealthy individuals, major gala balls are expected to return $1.2M on $0.4M COR. We have also considered facilitating the sponsorship of villages, where donors will fund the development for an entire residential area. This emotional connection has been shown to increase UHNW donor investments by over 380%. Also, 65% of wealthy donors have expressed inefficiency and cost-effectiveness as key concerns when donating, which is exactly the theme and scope of our solution, so we believe we will have great success during donation drives.

For the general public, we have planned memberships, tailored donation drives, and pop-up stalls. Memberships will provide specific benefits and privileges to individuals. Donation drives will be tailored to Indonesians in the city or wealthier diaspora overseas, specifically during religious ceremonies like zakat, where all Muslims are obligated to donate 2.5% of their income to charitable causes. Pop-up stalls with models of polluted water and hands-on tasks will be an interactive way of raising awareness and funds for the cause.

For major corporations, a variety of strategies can be tailored depending on the circumstance. Employer-employee contribution matching can be encouraged, corporate branding and sponsorship, technical support for water systems, and direct corporate donations can be explored. Alternate methods to fundraise can include partnering with department/grocery chains to round up purchases to the nearest dollar, with the proceeds going to a program of the customer's choice.

Overall, we expect the donations, subscriptions, and government/charity grants to sustain the program operations in the long-term. However, in the short-term, it will be solely volunteer run until the initial technologies have been successfully established and are operating.